I also signed up, even if just to see what Mike has been up to.
Hi Bruno,
Apologies for delays in replying - we had company from out of state for the last week so my time has been balanced.
Since resigning from my position of Director of Training for Autogeek I've actually just been getting back into top physical condition and working on creating this forum, my website for my detailing business, a few other social media platforms.
I loved my work at Autogeek but after 11 years, I felt I had accomplished everything I could for the Autogeek business model and for myself personally.
I stated this in post
#61 in the really nice thread
Michael aka The Guz started on AGO
I entered into this industry simply by being a "car guy". At one time I thought about becoming a mechanic, you know turning wrenches on cars. I enjoy turning wrenches on my own car and boat projects but what I like about my own car and boat projects, (in the past, I currently don't have any toys but this will change), was all my stuff was clean and neat and fun to work on.
Here's a set of 1-Ton rear brakes I rebuilt.
BEFORE - what you see is a mixture of mud and SAND!
AFTER - Clean enough to eat off of...
Here's why I never became a professional mechanic. I like and prefer to work on cars, trucks and boats that look like the second picture. I don't like working on other peoples broken down crap. So I knew I never wanted to become a mechanic. I'm happy to stick with working on my own stuff.
Detailing Cars
While I knew I never wanted to be a mechanic I also knew I liked working in the car industry and I found what I like most was as I always say,
I like taking a diamond in the rough and turning it into a glistening gemstone
That quote I believe is in the introduction of the last two car detailing books I wrote. Like many of you that either enjoy detailing your own cars or detail cars professionally, (for money). for whatever reason, I simply enjoy the satisfaction that comes from restoring the beauty to neglected cars but in most cases it's also making someone else's dream come true. By this I mean, most of the cars I detail tend to be what I always call,
SIVs or Special Interest Vehicles
Of courses I also detail daily drivers, but the bulk of the work I've done for the last 30+ years would fall into the category of SIVs. And these types of cars come with people that have a story. The story is usually pretty simple.
Person has a cool car that just doesn't look right. Could be swirls, could be holograms, maybe antique original paint with extreme oxidation, whatever the case is, it's a person with something that is cool to them and it just doesn't look the way they know it could look. Problem is... they don't know how to fix it or maybe cannot fix it, (it's out of their skill set or ability), and they don't know who to trust that can fix it.
Somehow, through faith or destiny or some other cosmic reason, we connect and I detail their car. They're happy because their toy or dream car now looks how they always knew it could look and I like the reward and satisfaction that comes from helping others in this manner.
So after 11 years at Autogeek, while I loved my job I also knew I needed to move on to something else. Everything I was doing at Autogeek was easy and it would have been easier to simply just stayed there and continued in the same routine - but that wasn't going to make me happy.
So for now I'm simply going back to my roots and doing what I love and that's working on cars and helping others get what they want - a shiny car. Pretty simple in the big picture of life.
I will be returning to teaching the craft of detailing cars and the art of polishing paint including detailing boats, but for now... just wax on, wax off.
Also - this forum is not intended to replace or compete against the AGO forum
or any forum or other detailing discussion platform. I personally need a place to share my work because
it's what I do.
I know there are a lot of other guys that are 'instructors' in this industry and I don't really ever see them detailing cars
and also sharing in-depth write-ups that share the tools, products, pads and techniques for their work.
That's them but it's not me.
I like to show other people how to do this type of stuff and I don't mind turning a polisher off to take a few pictures and then later processing the pictures and typing out all the words to share the information.
It's what I do. And in order to own all my future work I've chose to also
own my own forum.
People can join if they want or just lurk. But one thing I know for sure, at the end of the day - people
WILL go to where they find the best information. So while this forum is just for my personal work - at the same time I happy to provide information to anyone that asks.
For right now I'm just detailing cars. It's always been my passion. It enables me to teach and talk about the subject via first-hand knowledge and real-world experience.
At my core, I just a blue collar working class dog.
Way to go Mike, I’m super happy for you buddy.
